Meryl Streep Is 70! Which of Her Characters Is Your Top (Sophie’s) Choice for Her Best Role Ever?

In her first hit film, Meryl Streep plays the part of Linda, the wife of an introspective deer hunter. She co-stars with the likes of Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken in this nine-time Academy Award-nominated epic war drama.

This family courtroom drama follows the custody battle of former married couple Ted (Dustin Hoffman) and Joanna Kramer (Streep). This was also the first film in which Streep won an Academy Award and it was for Best Supporting Actress.

Acting as Jill Davis, a divorced woman writing a confessional book, Streep stars alongside Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in this black-and-white romantic comedy.

Receiving nominations for five Academy Awards, the British romantic drama features Streep as “the French lieutenant’s woman” as well as the actress Anna.

Based on the novel by William Styron, the star actress plays a Polish immigrant in this drama. For her acclaimed performance, Streep was awarded Best Actress at the Oscars, marking her second Academy Award.

The biographical drama features Streep as a worker at a fuel fabrication site who lives with her boyfriend, played by Kurt Russell, and her lesbian friend, played by Cher.

In this epic romance drama, the New Jersey native co-stars with Robert Redford as an unmarried wealthy Danish woman who moves to Nairobi for a convenient marriage.

Streep stars as Rachel Samstat, a Manhattan food writer who falls for a political columnist and womanizer, in this comedy-drama.

Acting as a narcissistic romance novelist, Streep’s character develops an affair with an accountant, leading to a series of unfortunate events schemed by the accountant’s vengeful wife.

Playing the part of a recovering drug addict and struggling actress in this comedy-drama, Streep won Funniest Lead Actress in a Motion Picture at the American Comedy Awards.

In 1992, Streep stepped into the role of Madeline Ashton, a narcissistic actress who seeks out a potion for eternal youth.

The adventure crime-thriller features the actress as a water rafting expert who takes her family on a holiday rafting trip in Idaho.

In this romantic drama, the famed actress co-stars with Clint Eastwood as a recently deceased mother of two adult children. Streep won Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 68th Academy Awards and Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama at the 53rd Golden Globes for her performance.

Streep acts as Roberta Guaspari, a violinist who becomes a substitute teacher in East Harlem in attempt to rebuild her life in this 1999 drama.

As a famed author, Streep’s character must hide secrets from a screenwriter played by Nicolas Cage in this film.

Starring as Clarissa Vaughan, a New York woman prepping an award party for her poet friend with AIDS, Streep acts alongside Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman and Ed Harris in this British-American drama.

Based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play, Streep plays multiple roles, including Hannah Pitt, Ethel Rosenberg, the Rabbi and the Angel Australia, in this HBO miniseries about playwright Tony Kushner’s political epic focused on the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.

Co-starring with Denzel Washington in this political thriller, the actress plays the role of Virginia U.S. Senator Eleanor Prentiss, who is nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate.

A Prairie Home Companion takes a look backstage during the final broadcast of America’s most celebrated radio show where performers like country singer Yolanda Johnson (Streep) and singing cowboys Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly) rule the airwaves.

As Miranda Priestly, a revered fashion magazine editor, Streep’s character ceaselessly demands her co-assistant, played by Anne Hathaway, to wait on her hand and foot. She is harsh, intense, a badass at her job and despite the fact that her workers fear her, there is something human and relatable to the character.

In this drama war film, Streep co-stars as a liberal TV journalist with Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Michael Pena and Andrew Garfield, whose characters depict U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

Mamma Mia, Streep can sing! In the musical film, Streep’s character Donna struggles financially as a villa owner on a small Greek island as she plans her daughter’s Sophie’s (Amanda Seyfried) wedding, while also unexpectedly reconnecting with past love interests. In 2018, the film got a sequel and Streep resprised her role.

Streep’s performance as Sister Aloysius Beauvier in this drama is scary good. In the film, Sister Aloysius goes on a crusade to unearth the truth when rumors spread that the new charismatic priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), could be paying too much attention to a young student. 

Contrasting the life of renowned chef Julia Child (played by Streep) with that of one of her culinary followers, Julia (Amy Adams) this comedy-drama takes viewers on a foodie adventure that’s not to be missed.

Ten years after divorcing her husband, a successful bakery owner named Jane (Streep), begins having an affair with her ex, despite the fact that he is re-married and she is falling for a new man.

Streep voiced Mr. Fox’s wife Felicity in this stop-motion animated comedy adaptation of Roald Dahl‘s classic children’s novel.

In the British-French biographical drama, Streep plays Margaret Thatcher as she comes to terms with her husband’s death while looking back at her road to success. Streep won Best Actress at the 84th Academy Awards, Best Actress of a Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes and Best Actress of a Motion Picture at the Satellite Awards, among several other accolades for this role.

Starring alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Streep’s character seeks out intense marriage counseling from Dr. Bernie Feld (Steve Carell) in this comedy.

Playing the part of an oral cancer patient and narcotics addict, Streep was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her role in this comedy-drama. The film also stars Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Based on the Newbery Medal award-winning novel, this social science fiction film features the actress as the Chief Elder. The movie shows what happens when a young boy from a seemingly perfect community without war, pain and suffering is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the “real” world.

As a witch in pursuit of her stolen youth and beauty, Streep’s character weaves together a quest that involves famous fairy tale characters. The musical fantasy film also stars Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick and many more big names.

In this British historical period drama, Streep plays the role of British suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, who helps women in 1912 London to earn the right to vote.

After abandoning her family for the life of a rock star, Ricki (Streep) comes home to try and fix her relationship with her family. This movie also stars Streep’s real-life daughter Mamie Gummer.

Streep portrays Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who had dreams of becoming an opera singer, even though her voice was terrible, in this biographical film.

In 2018, Streep was again nominated for an Academy Award, this time for her portrayal of Kay Graham, the first U.S. female newspaper publisher (of The Post), who used her platform to start a battle between the press and the government in to order to tell the truth about a cover-up regarding the Pentagon Papers that spanned four U.S. Presidents. 

In the highly-anticipated second season of Big Little Lies, Streep joins the cast as Mary Louise Wright, the mother to the late Perry Wright (Alexander Skarsgård) and mother-in-law to Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), and she is ready to shake up Monterey.